Numbers 25:1-18 - Sin, Zeal, And Atonement

I. The seductions of the flesh and of the devil, and the apostasy to which they lead;

II. The insolence of sin when allowed to gain a head;

III. The zeal against sin which pleases God and obtains favour;

IV. In a figure, the atonement wrought by God's holy servant Jesus.

I. Consider, therefore, with respect to THE APOSTASY OF ISRAEL —

1 . That it was due to two things—their own licentiousness, and the craft of Balaam taking advantage of it. They knew not indeed that Balaam had any part in it, but we know that the instigation came from him. Even so there is the same double origination of all grave fallings away from God and grace. A man is drawn away of his own lust ( James 1:14 ), and enticed by the lust of the flesh and of the eyes ( 1 John 2:16 ); but beneath and behind all these temptations is the craft of an evil will counter-working the grace and purpose of God ( Ephesians 6:11 , Ephesians 6:16 ; 1 Peter 5:8 ). And note that Balsam could not harm them by his curses or magical practices, but only by taking advantage of their evil concupiscence. So has our adversary no power against us, save through our own sins.

2 . That the sin of Israel began with idleness, and the reaction from toil and victory, which encouraged them to give the rein to wandering desires. Even so the most dangerous moments, morally speaking, in a Christian's life are those intervals of comparative inactivity and apparent safety when dangers seem to be surmounted, foes overcome, and toils left behind.

3 . That the danger of Israel against which they had been so strongly warned now beset them, viz; the danger of too friendly intercourse with people whose religion and morality were altogether inferior to that of Israel. Even so the great and constant danger of Christian people—especially of such as mix much with others—lies in intercourse with a world which does not acknowledge the laws of God, and in the almost inevitable lowering of the moral and religious tone which follows.

4 . That the first fatal step was indulgence in carnal pleasures— an indulgence such as was now for the first time thrown in their way. And this is still the frequent source of apostasy; a snare into which the most unlikely persons constantly fall when it is suddenly presented to them. How many of the greatest, intellectually, and most promising, spiritually, have fallen through lust! how many deem themselves absolutely above it simply because the temptation has never yet come in their way!

5 . That fellowship in sin led directly to fellowship in idolatry: the two things being mutually intermixed in the abominations of those days. Even so it is impossible to take part in the sinful indulgences of the flesh and of the world without denying God and committing treason against him. Immorality is not simply evil in the sight of God, it is an outrage upon him, and a direct renunciation of our allegiance to him. The first Christians rightly regarded Venus and Bacchus as devils. Fleshly sin involves a quasi-sacramental union with the enemy of God ( 1 Corinthians 6:13-20 ; 1 Corinthians 10:21 , 1 Corinthians 10:22 ; and cf. Psalms 73:27 ; Acts 15:20 ; 1 Timothy 5:11 ).

6 . That the wrath of God burnt especially against the heads of the people, because they had permitted these iniquities to go on, and had perhaps encouraged them. Even so their sin is greatest and their punishment will be sorest who fail to use their position and authority to discourage vice; much more if they countenance it by their example.

7 . That the sentence of death was pronounced upon all who were joined to Baal-Peor. It is not the will of God that sin as such should now be punished by the magistrate, but none the less is the sentence of eternal death gone forth against all who through sinful indulgence have made themselves over to the prince of this world ( Romans 1:18 , Romans 1:32 ; Romans 6:23 ; Ephesians 5:5 ; Revelation 19:20 ; Revelation 21:8 ).

8 . That the judges of Israel were commanded to execute judgment, not indiscriminately, but each upon such as he was responsible for. Even so is every Christian held bound to extirpate by all needful violence his own sins and sinful inclinations which cleave unto iniquity and do dishonour to God. For each one of us is responsible for all that is within him, and not for others, save by example and admonition ( Romans 8:13 ; 1 Corinthians 9:27 ; Galatians 6:5 ; Ephesians 5:11 ; Colossians 3:5 , where "mortify" is simply "put to death").

II. Consider again, with respect to THE SIN OF ZIMBI —

1 . That the bad example and negligence of the chiefs went further in encouraging this evil than the declared wrath of God in discouraging it. It would have been impossible for such a thing to have occurred if the leaders of Israel had been doing their duty. Even so in a society nominally Christian the bad example of its leaders has much more effect than all the denunciations of Scripture. Nothing is more remarkable than the extreme insolence with which the worst vices are ever ready to assert themselves, and to flaunt their vileness in the face of day, if they find encouragement, or even toleration, with those that lead opinion and set the fashion. Worse sins than that of Zimri, such as adultery, and murder (in the form of duelling), have been and are practiced without shame and without rebuke by those who claim the name and privilege of Christians.

2 . That the rank of the two offenders no doubt increased their presumptions, as shielding them from punishment. Even so in the Churches of Christ it has ever been the rich and the great who have dragged down the moral law and outraged the holiness of their calling, because they seemed to be beyond the reach of discipline or correction in this world.

3 . That their sin was intensified by contrast with the penitential sorrow and the trouble all around them. Even so does the reckless sin of abandoned people assume a darker hue in the sight of God and of good men, because it shows itself side by side with all the sorrow and the pain, the penitence and supplication, which that very sin has worked in unnumbered souls. There is not a city in Christendom where that scene of sin and weeping in the camp of Israel is not ever being reproduced in full sight of God, if not of men.

4 . That the sin of Zimri was, and is, revolting to everybody, not, however, because it was really worse than numberless other such acts, but only because it asserted itself in its naked hideousness. Even so the most revolting crimes which all men cry out upon are not really worse than those which are committed every day; it is only that circumstances have robbed them of the disguises and concealments beneath which men hide their ordinary sins.

III. Consider again, with respect to THE ZEAL OF PHINEHAS —

1 . That it was well-pleasing in the sight of God because it was a zeal for God, and against sin. Even such must be the character of all true religious zeal; it must have no lesser or meaner inspiring motive than the pure desire that God may be glorified and sin may be destroyed. It is this zeal, and nothing else, which puts the creature at once on the side of the Creator, and produces an active harmony of will and purpose between God and man. How little religious zeal has this pure character! Hence, although it achieves much,—builds churches, wins converts, gains all its ends on earth,—yet it does not obtain any commendation or reward from God.

2 . That it stood in strong contrast to the supineness of the chiefs, and even apparently of Moses; they ( at best ) only mourned, Phinehas acted. True zeal is always rare, and most rare in high places. It is so much easier to deplore the existence of evils than to throw oneself into active contention against them. The enthusiasms and reforms which have purged the Church of its grosser moral corruptions have never come from its leaders.

3 . That it was all the more acceptable with God because it was spontaneous, and not official. Even so the zeal which pleases God is that which is not paid for directly or indirect]y, and which is not prompted by any human expectations, and does not wait for any advantages of position. How often do men tacitly agree to leave zeal for religion and morality to their official exponents, as if it were a professional matter to seek the glory of God and the triumph of righteousness!

4 . That it merited the favour of Heaven because it was unhesitating and unabashed. No one else perhaps would have "followed" when and where Phinehas followed. Even so a genuine religious zeal does not hesitate to seek its ends by painful courses, and such as natural feeling and ordinary sentiment shrinks from. Zeal knows no shame except the shame of doing wrong or of suffering wrong to be done if it can be helped.

5 . That the act of Phinehas was commended because it was

(1) according to the will of God, and

According to the law of Israel, as then understood and sanctioned by God, it was right that these sinners should die, and right that any private person in Israel should execute judgment upon them if the rulers hesitated; and Phinehas had no private ends to gain or malice to gratify by what he did. Even such is the ultimate test of every act of religious zeal, by which it must be weighed in the last account. If a thing be right in itself, according to the revealed will of God, yet if it be done from any motive but the highest, it has no reward hereafter, because it seeks its reward here.

6 . That the act of Phinehas was one which was right then, but would be wrong now, because the present dispensation is built upon eternal, not upon temporal, sanctions. Yet is his zeal and ours all one in its essence: we must put to death the deeds of the flesh by the arms of righteousness; every man must be a Phinehas to his own lusts in act—to others in word and example only (cf. 2 Corinthians 7:11 ).

IV. Consider lastly, with respect to PHINEHAS AS A FIGURE OF CHRIST IN HIS ATONEMENT —

1 . That the act of Phinehas teas accepted as an atonement because it was inspired by a pure zeal for God and against sin, without regard of self. And this was the moral element, the controlling motive power, in the life and death of Christ, which made it infinitely precious in the eyes of God, and infinitely available for the remission of sins.

2 . That God had sought for such an atonement before and it had not been given . And God had looked in vain among the children of men for any that should have perfect sympathy with his own hatred of sin, and perfect self-devotion in seeking to destroy it (cf. Isaiah 53:11 , "my righteous servant;" Isaiah 63:4 , Isaiah 63:5 ; Matthew 3:17 , &c.;).

3 . That Phinehas "satisfied" the wrath of God against sin, inasmuch as he gave expression in the most open and public way to the real mind of God in respect of sin. And our Lord did not merely regard sin with the eyes of God, but he manifested unto all the world in the very highest sense the righteousness of God as arrayed against the sinfulness of sin. Beholding the carcasses of those sinners, Israel awoke from his evil dream to a consciousness of what such lust really was. Gazing upon the dead face of him that was made sin for us, we realize what the hatefulness and hideousness of sin truly is.

4 . That Phinehas condemned sin in the flesh by the death—since nothing less would suffice—of the sinners. And God condemned sin in the flesh not by inflicting death, but by sending his only-begotten to suffer death in the name and in the place of that sinful race with which he had wholly identified himself.

5 . That Phinehas, having displayed and vindicated the righteousness of God, delivered the rest of Israel from the plague. Even so our Lord, having condemned sin by his own death, through death destroyed the power of death, and delivered his brethren from the fear of death.

6 . That Phinehas received for his zeal God's covenant of peace, and the promise of an everlasting priesthood. And our Lord, for that he made atonement for the sins of the world, and reconciled in one life and death the holiness and the love of God, became himself our peace ( Ephesians 2:14 ), and was made a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec ( Hebrews 5:9 , Hebrews 5:10 ).

7 . That Phinehas could not abide because of death, nor his seed because of infirmity and change; wherefore the premise could not be permanently made good to him. But Christ abideth for ever, for ever the same, eternal inheritor of all the promises made to all holy men ( Hebrews 7:24 ; Hebrews 13:8 , &c.;). See the note above.